Jorn Walthaus says Macau Poker Games not so Great

It used to be that Bobby’s Room (Las Vegas Bellagio) was THE premier place for high stakes poker. But that largely changed a few years ago, when top-notch grinders like John Juanda, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan and others began mixing it up with billionaire fish in Macau. According to Dutch high stakes player Jorn Walthaus, though, the Macau poker games aren’t nearly as lucrative these days.

Walthaus describes a situation where a smoking ban and too many pros have driven away some of the recreational players. “The biggest difference between the games when I came here and now is I think…there are less recreational players,” he told PokerNews. “I was here when the smoking ban came, so no more smoking at the tables. And I think that really hurt the games. What happened is that a lot of professional players came here, and so there were more professional players at the table compared to recreational players.”

After spending eight months living and grinding from 10:00am to 4:00am every day, Walthaus made the decision to leave this gambling capital. His two reasons were A) the games got worse, and B) he can make more money playing online poker.

The Dutchman spent his time at the $300/$600 and $1k/$2k tables, and he says there were plenty of rec players at the table. However, he believes that the scene has largely shifted to pro vs. pro in recent times.

Given that Walthaus had trouble “getting satisfaction” from the Macau routine when he was winning, tougher games convinced him that his time would be better spent elsewhere. You can see everything that he had to say on the matter below: